Railroad-track.



No. 674,370. Patented may 2|, mm.4

j W. GLDIE.

RAILROAD TRACK. (Application filed, .my 25, 1900.;

(No Model.)

lll/25765666. I A Inl/671757'.-

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM GOLDIE, OF WILKINSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA- RAILROAD-TRAC K.

SPECIFICATION brmng part f Letters Patent NO. 674,370, dated May 21, 1901.

Application filed July 25, 1900. Serial No. 24,746 (No model.)

following to be a full, clear, and exact 'de-1 scription thereof.

My invention relates to railroad-tracks, its

object being to provide a railroad-trackA in which the ties have a firm broad support of solid material, while the track can be formed at comparatively low cost and the difficulties heretofore experienced with the ordinary ballast, either of the ballast Wearing into the ties or the ballast being forced out by the passing train in the form of dust or dirt, is practically overcome and the track itself, while fully braced and supported, is properly drained, and a permanent surfacing is obtained, which surfacing may, if necessary, in case of the sinking of the ballast itself, be easily and cheaply corrected.

The ordinary railroad-track is composed of a bed of ballast supporting wooden railroad'` ties, to which the rails are spiked, or metal ties, to which the rails are bolted, the ballast employed being either gravel or broken stone extending up between the ties and being packed as firmly as practicable by tamping under the ends of the ties, though not so firmly under the center, because the weight is sustained by the ends of the ties, which parts it is important to have more solidly ballasted to prevent the load being sustained by the center portion of the ties, leaving the ends insufficiently supported, this being termed center-binding, and often leading to the cracking or breaking of the ties. The diiiculty with such track is that where gravel ballast is used it is difficult to pack tightly, and the passing train, until the ballast has become solid, is liable to force out the loose sand or dirt by the slight rocking of the ties sucking in the air and again forcing out the sand, making travel very disagreeable and finally aecting the surfacing of the road. There is also difficulty in draining the ballast, which leads to the rotting of the ties, and the ballast is often affected by frost in the spring, which is liable to place the track out of surface. With the ordinary stone ballast the difficulty is that each tie may be supported on a few of the solid stones packed or tamped under it and the weight of the passing trains will cause such stones to wear into the tie, so that only hard-wood ties can be used, and even with these the stones will Wear in for an inch or more, so affecting the surfacing. Where metal ties are used they are usually trough-shaped, and it is difficult to tamp the ballast under them, while the hard-steel ties act to pulverize the stone, and so permit the ties to lower and destroy the surfacing. Thelweight of the train Will of course gradually pack down the ballast and form a solid bed; but as the ballast under some ties is packed more solidly than under others and the weight of the passing train is sufficient to press down the imperfectly-supported ties,

for all these reasons it is necessary to frey quently resurface the track, requiring constant work at large cost, being one of the principal expenses in the maintenance of way. When such resurfacing takes place, it is always necessary to remove the ballast between the ties and always necessary to disturb the ballast under the ties, and so disturb the solid bed formed by the weight of the train, as above referred to, and after the track has been resurfaced the saine operation continues, so that repeated resurfacings are necessary to maintain it in good condition. While improvements have been made in the weights of rails and rail connections, these have been found insufficient to withstand the heavy strains incident to increased weight in the rollin g-stock and increased speed of the trains, and some means of obtaining a more permanent solid track and more permanent surfacing thereof without affecting the solid bed formed under the ties and a more perfect support for the track, requiring little or no resurfacing, has been considered desirable and has not yet been obtained. The present invention is believed to supply this need.

It consists, generally stated, in ,a railroadtrack formed of a ballast bed, ties, and rails, and supporting-beds of cementinte'rposed between the ties and the ballast bed and extending from the ends of the ties toward, but not to, the centers, as well as in certain other improvements, such as interposed cement beds having drainage-channels extending longi- IOO tudinally through the same to provide for the drainage of the central portion of the track.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will describe the same more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective View of a railroadtrack havingl the invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the line l l, Fig. l. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section on the lin 3 3, Fig. 2. v

A's the method of forming the interposed cement beds between the ballast and ties and the apparatus suitable for forming the same are fully described i'n applications of even date herewith, Serial Nos. 24,744 and 24,745, I will in the present application describe only the track itself, it beingI understood that the invention includes the track described ,and claimed no matter in what way the same is built up.

The invention is illustrated in connection with au ordinary single track, the ties l shown being the ordinary wooden ties, though the invention may be employed with metal ties if considered desirable. The ties rest upon the regular ballast bed 3, the ballast being filled in between the ties, as at 4, this interposed filling of ballast extending up toward or to the top of the ties. The rails 2 are secured to the ties by spikes in the ordinary way. The bed of ballast is made from twelve to eighteen (l2 to 18) inches in depth, depending of course upon the character of the ground over which the road passes, and the passing train of course gradually packs down the ballast until a practically solid bed of ballast is formed undereach tie. Under the end portions 5 5 of each tie are formed the interposed cement supporting-beds 6, which extend from the outer ends of the ties for a distance of from iifteen to twenty-live (l5 to 25) inches toward the center portion, so as to eX- tend under or close to the rails themselves, though having the center portion of the tie resting on the ballast bed,which is only lightly tamped to prevent center-binding. The cement beds may be formed of any suitable material of the nature of cement which is quicksetting, so as to form solid interposed beds between the tie and the ballast beds below the saine, and for that purpose either Portland cement or cement of like character, asphaltum, or like material, may be employed, and, if considered wise, either sand, gravel, or small stones may be mixed with the cement before it is injected under the ends of the ties. The interposed cement beds rest upon the ballast bed 3 and are conlined at the sides by the interlilling between the ties, and the cement will naturally conform to the under surface of the tie and give a broad support for thc same, whether wooden or steel ties are used, while it will conform to the solid packed ballast bed, entering between the gravel or stone and uniting therewith, so as to provide a solid thick supporting-body as wide as the tie and conforming in shape to it. It is evident that as the cement beds conform to the bodies of the ties there is butlittle opportunity of moisture entering between the two and there can be practically no confined moisture, which would lead to the rotting or rusting of the ties and their rapid disintegration. To insure that all the moisture is carried off from the center portion 7 of the track, so as to prevent the rotting of the center of the ties, drainage-canals 8 are formed, extending longitudinally through the cement bodies G to the inner end thereof, so that any moisture which might have collected under the ties will have free'escape through such channel and proper drainage of the central portion of the track will therefore be assured. In this way the track can be formed with the ballast under the central portions of the ties only loosely packed or with practically no packing of ballast under such center por tions, so that all possibility of center-binding of the track is overcome. Such interposed cement beds may be formed in any desired way, though itis preferred that the ballast bed shall be packed down solidly under the same before the cement beds are interposed, the custom being to operate the track until the ballast is solidly packed, when in resurfacing the track the cement supportingbeds may be interposed in any desired way, the cement being injected under the ends of the ties a suflcient distance to give proper support to the rails and being then permitted t0 Set.

W'here new tracks are being formed, the track can be properly compacted by the passage of one or more trains and the cement beds then formed under the ties.. The additional layers of cement may also be'interposed when found necessary in the subsequent resurfacing of the track in cases where the ballast itself was not suflciently packed when the cement beds were formed. Such eXtra layer of cement is indicated at 8 and such extra layers can be injected Without disturbing the ballast to any great extent, the only necessity being the raising of the track itself to the proper level and its support at that level until the cement is set.

By the use of the invention a much more solid and strong track is obtained, both because the regular solid compacted ballast beds for the ties are not disturbed and because the interposed cement beds form solid supports conforming to any irregularities in such ballast beds and conforming to the under surface or portion of the 'tie supported, such cement beds being the full width of the tie and giving a broad solid support thereto. The cement supporting-beds so formed also unite to some extent with the ballast -below and extending up the sides of the ties and bind the whole together into a solid supporting-block for the tie. The main difficulties with the use of gravel ballast are also overcome, the pumping out of the dirt and IOO IIO

dust through the yielding of the ballast when a train passes over the same and in rising again when relieved of the load being prevented because the cement agglomerates all such ,small particles and binds them into solid supporting-beds, so that resurfacing is seldom necessary. The difficulty of the wearing of the stone ballast into the ties will also be overcome, as the cement will flow around the stone ballast,forming a solid bed conforming to the shape of the tie and supporting it, as above referred to, and giving support for the full width of the tie instead of on a few hard points of the stone ballast to Wear into the wooden ties or be ground off by the steel ties, as in the present track. As the solid beds formed by the weight of the passing trains are not disturbed in the surfacing of the track, but the interposed cement supporting-beds simply rest thereon, and such beds are strong and solid, it is evident that after the track is once surfaced in this Way there will be little or no settling, the only possible settling being in the ballast in places where it has not been sufficiently packed, and in such cases the fresh layer of cement may be easily interposed, if necessary, and by forming the cement more duid it Will flow into all small spaces and bind all the parts together. On account of the much more solid supports so given to the ties the strength of the track to resist'strain is of course very largely increased, and it is believed that by the invention a track will be made sufficiently strong to sustain the weight of the heavy rolling-stock now in use or heavier rollingstock and to sustain much higher speeds of trains than now employed. For the above reasons the track will cost less to maintain in good surface and condition than the ordinary track, so effecting a large saving in the cost of maintenance of the road.

What I claim as-my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

l. A railroad-track composed of a ballast bed, ties and rails, and having cement supporting-beds interposed between the ties and the ballast beds and extending from the ends toward but not to the centers of the ties.

2. A railroad-track composed of a ballast bed,'ties and rails, and having cement beds interposed between the ballast beds and the ties, and extending from the ends toward but not to the centers of the ties, and drainagechannels extending through such cement beds.

In testimony whereof I, the said WILLIAM GOLDIE, have hereunto set my hand.

WILLIAM GOLDIE.

Witnesses:

F. W. WINTER, ROBERT C. TOTTEN. 

